Alright everyone! Two months of hard work has paid off. I've got console time down to 19:32 and emulator time down to 19:59.
Videos coming soon!
This is real world time, from First Frame of Level One, to First Frame of Princess's Bedroom.
The main issue for the Sprite Scrambles that allow the Prince to go through closed gates is that all of them (3 distinct varieties with different methods of running or jumping through) are variations of the Guard & Skeleton sprite corruption. When falling, the Prince becomes a Guard with legs spread apart, and a very big hit box. So when falling through the gate at the beginning of Level One, the gate catches the Prince, and he instantly dies. On the face of it, this makes it seem like Level One cannot be accessed, which is quite a problem!
The solution is a number of positions the Prince can be in at the time of Exiting a level, after which, going to Level One (New Game), the Prince will be facing Left for One Frame at the beginning of Level One, thus missing the gate, and safely falling to the ground to begin Level One. Here after, a Warp may be used.
The positions depend upon the level. For example, when Exiting Levels 4 & 7, the Prince can be on one of the last two frames of the Running Jump animation sequence, prior to reaching the frame at the Apex of the jump (the highest point in the middle of the air). On level 6, you can Exit at the exact same time as you would exit to activate a Warp (in the middle of climbing up or down). On Level 2, you can Exit after dying from a high fall (4+ stories), having landed next to a wall (not in the middle of open ground).
The difference in time between my "console time" and my "emulator time" is based upon the assumption that an Emulator cannot do a soft console reset. Moreover, a TAS cannot be run with a built-in soft console reset.
When you manually push the "Reset" button on a Super Nintendo console, the game resets, but all memory is saved (stored password to Continue, Best Times, Debug Status, etc.). But when you select the "Reset" Option in an Emulator, progress password is lost. And again, it would not be possible to program an Emulator Reset in the midst of a TAS Replay.
For the 19:32 console time, I start with a quick warp the Level Six Checkpoint, similar to the method illustrated in Challenger's little video earlier in this thread. After beating level 6, the progress & password are stored, and the console is Manually Reset. Then, I perform the necessary combination of glitches (same actions as Warp), to scramble the Prince's Sprite into one of the Special Sword Sprites. I call them the Gate Thief. :) After this, simply go to Continue, and Resume Level 7 from the earlier progress.
For the 19:59 emulator time, I had to start by jumping through the guard to beat Level One quickly, and save progress to Level Two. Then Exit Level Two, start New Game, perform the necessary glitches, and then "Continue" to Level Two. Fall to die next to a wall, Exit, get into Level One, and Warp to Level Six. This method allows for continuous play without a manual reset.
I'm very proud that in both cases, my rigorous Speed-Running has resulted in True Sub-20-minutes.
I think you guys will really enjoy these videos, and I hope Challenger might feel inspired to create a Gate Thief TAS, based upon my videos for each level.
Congratulations! Very good job Akuma on the investigation and the informations/screenshots/pictures/videos you provided! Thanks for those.
http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=478898#478898 (feos' encode of Challenger finishing the corruption route) --> Amazing! :)
And what's up with these flipped menus lol.
I will try to not forget about this thread, but I'm still only would like to take the mintlody 1:40 route (which doesn't comply with current state of rules).
PhD in TASing 🎓 speedrun enthusiast ❤🚷🔥 white hat hacker ▓ black box tester ░ censorships and rules...
And what's up with these flipped menus lol.
I'm still only would like to take the mintlody 1:40 route (which doesn't comply with current state of rules).
I have a Super Surprise Video relating (loosely) to flipped menus. It's gonna blow your mind. (I've teased you guys long enough! I will post this video tonight!) Unfortunately, I had no idea it was about to happen, so by the time I turned the camera on, I'd missed half of it, but what I did capture does perfectly illustrate what happened. It's quite hilarious. But no idea if I'll be able to do it again. It was a very complicated combination of glitches that I cannot remember.
Also, I can beat the game in 1:12. LOL. There is a way to activate DEBUG MENU, without inputting the "SPECIAL" or "SPCCMD!" passwords. So in theory, a silly video could activate DEBUG without password, and then jump to level 20. This would satisfy the "no passwords" rule, but still silly. (Edit: I went ahead and made a video of it for fun.)
So, I have discovered a very nice & fast Warp to Level 8, which does not create visual corruption of any kind, and activates Kill Button. So I will work on that next, and figure out how long it takes. Off the top of my head, I want to guess about 24:00 - 25:00, or slightly less. But first, I'm going to finish up the last few things for the Gate Thief, and post up a full series of videos for playing the game in under 20 minutes. I will apologize in advance for the quality of the videos. I recorded everything on a CRT TV, using my hands & a real console. But considering this, I think everything is still very clear, for the purpose of studying the positions & timing of jumps (for TAS recreation).
In my opinion, this Gate Thief route should comply with standard "Glitch" speed-run categories. The precedent has been set by the famous 4:55 Super Mario Bros 1, which allows jumping through walls, and glitching the flag poles, etc. In spirit, I think these Sprite Glitches in Prince of Persia, which allow for some frame-perfect jumps and runs through gates, follow that same idea.
Ok, here's the Special Surprise Video I promised, loosely related to the "Flipping" glitch.
I started recording late, so I have made some pictures to recreate the missing footage.
The pictures show the English Version, with the purple bar going across the bottom, and then the bright white background for the Konami Logo showing only at top and bottom, with the middle of the screen obscuring what would perhaps be an upside-down logo.
The Title Screen appeared undisturbed, but once the story began, the water animation in the background became corrupt. As the story continued, all movable sprites were flipped upside-down, and higher up on the screen. You can see the two guards holding the Princess did not move, which tells us they were a part of the background here, and not animated sprites.
The video picks up with Jaffar strolling down the hallway, upside-down!
In normal game-play, you can pause the game one frame before the moment the Prince is being HIT, and use the DEBUG MENU to jump to a new level. After initiating the Jump Selection, the game will advance One Frame to the moment the Prince IS being HIT, and the Password Box will appear, as if you have just completed a level. If you jump to a level that is preceded by a Princess Cut Scene, the Cut Scene will be disturbed by Strobing Red Flashes. You can see this behavior being imitated in the Introduction Video, because the "Warp" reset the game, and killed the Prince at the same time. Whatever it was, it was an Unstable Warp, and as soon as the Demonstration Video began, the Game Froze.
And the video:
Link to video
I hope this gets you excited! Gate Thief Coming Soon!
Thank you for the video, for whatever reason I really like the vertically mirrored (and corrupted logo) graphics :)
On this note, ThunderAxe31 had a movie where the resolution doubled. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/49110545345204233
There is no real strategy behind this, and it was explained by Masterjun as "different SNES mode set". Maybe mode 5.
PhD in TASing 🎓 speedrun enthusiast ❤🚷🔥 white hat hacker ▓ black box tester ░ censorships and rules...
That's hilarious. I can't imagine how the game is able to change the emulator options. He temporarily dipped into an unplayable version of Level Zero. One of the Gate Thieves can be located in an unplayable Level Zero. I think before I share my sub-20 setup, I'll make a few videos showing off some of the cool Level Zero setups. All of it is related.
In fact, the time I got that "Flipped Intro" was a series of glitches that ended with jumping into the Wall and immediately Exiting, just as in ThunderAxe's video.
The interesting thing is that the glitch will be different depending upon your horizontal location at Exit Time. If you climb down, it's generally a Level 7 Warp, and if you fall to the right, it is generally a Level 8 Warp. But depending upon the setup, many different things can happen. Different positions can be achieved by jumping towards the hole from a different location, running into the hole with the final step being closer or farther from the edge (depending on where you were when you started runnning, etc.) You can see that in ThunderAxe's video as well.
Looks like I've got my work cut out for me. After work tonight, I'll make a bunch of videos, and share them this weekend. I have just a few more levels to record for Gate Thief, and then I'll post up a full series, hopefully this weekend. So excited that it's almost ready!
Ok! All glitch videos recorded! I will share the first two right now, with many more (and much more mind-blowing!) to come later tonight after work.
I will post the video windows below, with the full descriptions following each.
Link to video
"Stable Warp 6 Checkpoint with Invincibility #2."
The Prince of Persia Glitches are triggered by exiting the level when the Prince is 1 frame away from a room transition. Usually, this is while climbing up or down from a special room at a special location.
Some Glitches result in a Warp to a different level, while others simply restart the level or return to the Main Menu, acting as a buffer in a long pattern of glitches.
Here is a simple glitch combination that results in an eventual Warp to Level 6, with Invincibility. This particular combo results in temporarily corrupted graphics in Level 6, which are corrected by the Cut Scene before Level 7. The Key is that the Prince's footsteps, and all other sound effects, remain audible, indicating that the Warp is Stable, and the game will not crash.
Step 1 -- Exit room with Extra Guard.
Step 2 -- Single Down hole #2 (after falling with loose panel).
Step 3 -- Single Up hole #2 (resets to main menu).
Step 4 -- Single Up hole #2 (Stable Warp to level 6 Checkpoint).
This is Invincibility #2, meaning you can sustain 2 fatal hits without dying, and you can sustain infinite non-fatal hits. But beware, most fatal hits will result in the Prince being Frozen In Place, and control is lost. If that happens, you can use the Debug Menu to jump to any level, and continue playing with invincibility. If you exit and return to the main menu, Invincibility is lost.
Link to video
"Playable Level Zero, with Warp 8 and Invincibility #2."
This video shows a Playable version of Level Zero without visual corruption, which allows for easy exploration. Level Zero may look like Level One, but it is not. This means the Prince has his sword already, and if you encounter a Guard, pulling your sword (or finding the extra sword) will instantly trigger a Warp. Fortunately, Warping to Level Zero automatically enables the Kill Button (button X), so you can easily avoid fighting guards if you don't want a Sword Warp.
This particular combo starts the Prince in a "Split Position", meaning his real location, and his On-Screen Sprite are in two different places, and need to be merged to remain safe. While in the split state, colliding with walls will result in Instant Death and Ejection of Level Zero. In this particular split position, your real location is underneath the Extra Guard, and your On-Screen sprite is one level below, in the next room. You can quickly merge your position by running to the left, and falling through the loose panel. In this video, I show how you can carefully maneuver through the world on a limited basis without merging positions. But eventually, you must merge to proceed with exploration and other tricks.
Included in this play-through is the Completion of Level Zero, which continues to Level One, and a Warp to Level 8 with Invincibility.
Step 1 -- Single Down #2 (after falling with loose panel).
Step 2 -- Quadruple Down #2 (restarts level one again).
Step 3 -- Quadruple Up #2 (Warp to Level Zero, Split Position).
Step 4 -- Drink the potion in the Room to the Left of the Guard.
Step 5 -- Complete Level Zero, using Kill Button to avoid Guard.
Step 6 -- Single Up #5 (Warp to Level 8 with Invincibility).
During the initial setup for Level Zero, it is advisable to refrain from using time-saving techniques at ledge edges, as deviation in spacing may cause the warp to go to Level Six instead of Level Zero.
Any deviation from the secondary pattern may result in Warp 8 without Invincibility, or with the annoying infinite repetition of the game clock notification.
You may have noticed at the beginning of Level 8, the game clock said 24 minutes left. You can change this by adding a step. After Step #2, you can exit again, and restart Level One before doing Step #3. The end result should be about 115 minutes left at Level 8.
But if you're really good at Prince of Persia, 24 minutes is plenty of time. Don't Cry!
Here's another round of videos. More coming soon!
Each video window comes first, followed by its respective description.
Link to video
"Level Zero with Gray Fire and Sword Warp."
This is a variation of the Warp to Level Zero, where the torch fire is Gray instead of Orange/Red, followed by a short demonstration of facing a Guard on Level Zero for a "Sword Warp."
Sword Warps are based upon the type of scrambled sprite the Prince is currently occupying. These sprites are related to the hole used. This trick uses hole #2, so all scrambled sprites related to it will direct further action towards Level Six. Other sprites, which are related to holes #1 and #5, will direct sword warping towards Level Eight.
Step 1 -- Single Down #2 (Clean, not falling with loose panel).
You will notice I hit "Select" to bring up the menu after the first Exit. This is simply to show that you can do this if you want to, to observe the "fire patterns." Different actions bring different random patterns of torch fire all over the screen.
Step 2 -- Quadruple Down #2 (resets to Level One again).
Step 3 -- Quadruple Up #2 (Warps to Level 6, then Exit).
Step 4 -- Single Up #2 (Warps to Level Zero, Split Position).
Step 5 -- Explore and enjoy the weird fire!
Step 6 -- Engage a Guard or Pick Up a Sword to Instantly Warp.
Link to video
"Level Zero with Neon Fire, Level Zero^2, and Blue Prince with Sword Warp."
This video shows another variation of Level Zero, where the torch fire is a very flashy and bright White and Neon Pink, with a bright Green center. This time, there is no split position, but the tricks do frequently scramble the buttons, so you need to reset you buttons from the Select Menu before proceeding at each step. Level Zero^2 is a special "Unplayable" version where the Rubble from loose panels is represented on-screen by a tall block of scrambled colors. But they are also frequently unstable portals that may result in an insane game crash, or a warp. In this video, I found a way to reach a playable Zero^2, although it goes away if you leave the room. I also activated the permanent Blue Prince and reverted the torch fire to the Gray Fire, as seen in the other video. It's very unusual to be able to do this many glitches in one combo.
Step 1 -- Take Damage, then Single Down #2 (Die, main menu).
Step 2 -- Quadruple Down #2 (Die, main menu).
Step 3 -- Quadruple Up #2 (Warp to Level 6, then Exit).
Step 4 -- Single Up #2 (Warp to Zero, normal position).
Step 5 -- Single Up #5 (exits to main menu).
Step 6 -- New Game, Quadruple Up #5 (Warp to Zero^2).
For Step 5, taking damage or drinking potions before this reset shouldn't have an effect on the pattern. For Step 6, position matters. If you follow the exact actions I took, you can continue this combo. If you run or jump onto the loose panel at #5 with any other spacing, you might warp to Level 8, reset to main menu, or get a slightly different setup (you might notice the buttons scrambled slightly differently as well). It appears that you can do a Single or Quad for step 6, although I think for subsequent attempts at returning to Zero^2 require a Quadruple drop.
The first time in Zero^2, I intentionally avoided the glitchy rubble with proper spacing to jump over. Then did Quadruple Up #5 to reach Zero^2 a second time. You will notice here that the gates misbehave, as I was able to walk right through.
After another Quadruple Up #5, I was able to reach Zero^2 for a third time. This time, I interacted with the Glitch Rubble to trigger the Blue Prince, and also freeze the other gate I had opened earlier. There was also a temporary wrong-room visual corruption.
Because the Blue Prince was sporting a freshly rescrambled sprite based on hole #5, the Sword Warp at the end went to Level Eight.
In the other Neon Fire video, I will also demonstrate an example of the Glitch Rubble triggering a funny game crash.
Link to video
"Level Zero with Neon Fire, and Zero^2 CRASH!!"
This video shows a further example of interacting with the Glitch Rubble seen only in "Unplayable" Level Zero^2, which resulted in a partial crash, although menu control was not lost. For a more detailed explanation of the setup for this "Neon Fire" version of Level Zero, see my other video, "Neon Fire and Level Zero^2."
MORE VIDEOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is it for the silly stuff. Should give y'all lots of things to think about. Maybe you will feel inspired to do a little research, and see if there's any other cool stuff to do. I ended with a special teaser of the Gate Thief. Big Serious Business Coming Soon!
Link to video
"The Rainbow Prince."
This video shows a setup for Level Zero using the Guard. It causes the Prince to temporary flash many beautiful colors that are not seen elsewhere in the game. This is actually the first part of a bigger setup, but I'm showing this one separately to introduce the relevant ideas, which will make the later video less complicated.
For this combo, the first step is to take damage and visit the room with the Final Guard. You can do this by falling to take one damage, and then quickly exit the guard room as soon as you arrive. Or, you can allow the Guard to kill you, and then quickly exit.
When accessing Level Zero with this type of pattern (using the Guard), the default result is that Level Zero is completely shrouded in video corruption, where you can only see the Prince, Guards, bottles, and torches. You can avoid the video corruption by continuing to play, after the guard has killed you, without exiting the level. The trade off here is that if you do this, the combo (and all future linked combos) will not activate Kill Button or Debug.
So, for demonstration purposes, for this video I have input and activated Debug Mode and Kill Button prior to starting, so that continuing after death will allow you to see everything that happens in this Level Zero, without losing any special warp abilities. Once you know what you're doing, it's not hard to perform the glitches "in the dark."
There are also some other cases where a Warp will not activate Kill Button, and the best way to see this is to look at your Button Options after executing a warp. If Audio was changed to "Mono" after a warp (the first time), this indicates that the glitch activated Kill Button and Debug. If Audio remained at "Stereo" (the first time), this indicates that Kill Button was blocked, and will not be activated later. You will not see a relevant example of Mono & Stereo in this video, since I already manually activated Debug.
Step 1 -- Take Damage, go to the Final Guard's room, and Exit.
(Or, just let the Guard kill you, and Exit.)
Step 2 -- Single Down #2 (after falling with loose panel).
Step 3 -- Single Up #2 (main menu).
Step 4 -- Single Up #2 (Warp to Level Zero with Rainbow Prince).
As I said before, the "Rainbow Prince" is the first step in a larger pattern that I will show later. For a quick trip to Level Zero by this method, you can simply do Step 1, then skip directly to Step 4. It is therefore conceivable to very quickly use the Sword Warp as a follow-up.
Link to video
"Zero^2 and Blue Prince."
This is the simple setup for Level Zero using the Guard, after which you can visit Zero^2 using hole #1, instead of hole #5 from the other video. This setup also features another wrong-room temporary video corruption, where a room from the Caves is seen, triggered by the mysterious glitchy rubble. Finally, since the Prince has taken a scrambled sprite setup from hole #1, which is associated with Level 8, the Sword Warp goes to Level 8.
Again, the option is taken to continue after the Guard kills you, rather than exiting to level. This removes all video corruption from Level Zero, but would also normally block Kill Button and Debug activation. You can see in this video I've already circumvented the block by activating Kill Button manually, and killing the guard while I'm dead.
Step 1 -- Take Damage, go to the Final Guard's room, and Exit.
(Or, just let the Guard kill you, and Exit.)
Step 2 -- Single Up #2 (Warp to Level Zero, split position).
(Check your buttons here; some of these Level Zero setups will scramble the button configuration.)
Step 3 -- Use Step button to step out from the wall, and grab the opposite ledge. This will automatically merge your split position.
Step 4 -- Climb up to the First Room, and fall to Exit at #1.
Step 4 will result in the warp to Zero^2, and you will be standing next to the glitchy rubble. If you're going to run past it, do so quickly, and do not come back. If you intersect it again, you will crash the game. If you stay near it, a different glitch will happen eventually, which I will demonstrate in another video.
Step 5 -- slight delay before falling onto 2nd glitchy rubble. If the spacing is different, or if you jump or climb down, other things can happen, like instant Warp to Level 8, or game crash. In this video, the glitchy rubble triggers a wrong-room video corruption, but you do not really warp, so you can fix your buttons again, and then climb or fall down (blindly) through hole #2. This glitch turns you into the Blue Prince also.
Link to video
"Zero^2 Crash for Invincibility."
"ALSO, SNEAK PREVIEW OF THE INFERIOR GATE THIEF!!"
The setup is completely silly, but quite interesting. For this one, I did need to activate Debug Mode manually, so that I could extricate myself from a crash with the LEVEL SELECT function. This starts off the same as the "Zero^2 and Blue Prince" video. But this time, I linger next to the glitchy rubble, until it makes me disappear! A few tricks later, and I successfully crash the game, and we get a sneak peak at one version of the Gate Thief!
Step 1 -- Take Damage, go to the Final Guard's room, and Exit.
(Or, just let the Guard kill you, and Exit.)
Step 2 -- Single Up #2 (Warp to Level Zero, split position).
(Check your buttons here; some of these Level Zero setups will scramble the button configuration.)
Step 3 -- Use Step button to step out from the wall, and grab the opposite ledge. This will automatically merge your split position.
Step 4 -- Climb up to the First Room, and fall to Exit at #1.
Step 4 will result in the warp to Zero^2, and you will be standing next to the glitchy rubble. If you stay where you are, after several seconds the Prince will disappear. Then, several seconds later, the game will relocate to the First Room, where you are Blue Prince, and in a special Split Position. Here, the Prince's on-screen sprite is seen in the First Room, but the true position is below, in the next room down. Here, I take advantage of an opportunity to do a Warp Glitch through the middle of the floor! It Exits to Main Menu, but has a special impact on the pattern.
Step 5 -- Stay where you are until you are taken to the First Room.
Step 6 -- Go to the edge of your real position, and climb down through the floor. Must do it first try! If you visit the next room before exiting, this pattern will not continue.
Step 7 -- Fall into hole #1, climb out, and fall again.
This will take you to an unplayable Zero^2, and when the Prince flies around and eventually intersects with the glitchy rubble, the game will crash. In this video, you will see me pull up the Debug Menu a couple of times, but I decided to wait until the crashing subsided. Sorry for the distraction!
As you can see, the crash gave me a special Sprite, that can be acquired by other means, to be shown later. After Jumping to Level 6, I went ahead and provided a teaser for the Gate Thief.
Before I continue, I would like to remind everyone of this "Ask the Judges" post, which I think is relevant to the use of the "Continue" option on the Main Menu.
http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=468608#468608Mothrayas wrote:
Since the user never has to enter anything for the password, I don't count it as entering a password. So, I would consider this legitimate for the Vault.
Another way to look at this: when the game is reset after death, it is not in the same state as on startup: it is on startup state, but with your current progress saved (in the form of the password), and by pressing continue (without any other changes) you just load up that saved progress. In that sense, it is much like loading a savefile - it's just in the format of a password.
As I mentioned previously, for the Gate Thief sprite, you cannot enter Level One unless you first go to a different level, and do a certain trick (depending on the level). So you can store your progress to Level Two before performing the sprite glitches, and then use the Continue option to enter Level Two, before attempting to enter Level One with "New Game" and perform a Warp glitch.
Combining the Warp Glitch to skip several levels with the Gate Thief to skip gates, it is possible to beat the game in under 20 minutes, and also comply with all TAS rules.
===================
So the next series of videos will be the revelation of the Best Gate Thief (there are 3 varieties, each with different abilities, and different ways to approach and pass gates), the best way to combine the sprite glitch and the warp glitch, and then my best planned routes for each level (levels 6 thru 20), for a combined sub-20 minute run. (Maybe for dramatic effect, I'll post the levels first, and post the setup last.)
Then, I will show, for comparison, all of my best planned routes for the 2nd Best Gate Thief. (close to 20 minutes).
And finally, the best setup for a normal Level 8 Warp with no visual corruption, and normal sprite, for a sub-25 minute run.
===================
Here's an interesting bit. As you may have noticed, doing several glitches at different places can continue to rescramble the Prince's sprite animation to many different patterns, one after the other. Many associated with only one hole or another. A few of them are reached after many glitches, and then tend to be very stubborn, not allowing further rescrambling.
But the Gate Thief sprites are very easy-going, and can be rescrambled to lose the gate-skipping ability. The funny thing is that they seem to have a cross-over effect with one-another. The Best Gate Thief, a sprite associated with Level 8, cannot warp to Level 8, and must instead warp to Level 6 to remain in tact. (If you try to Warp to Level 8, the sprite will be rescrambled to a different sprite that cannot skip gates.) Whereas the 2nd Best Gate Thief cannot warp to Level 6, and must instead warp to Level 8 to remain in tact. By interesting coincidence, the 2nd Best Gate Thief can use this two-level advantage to make up for its slight inferiority throughout the game, to come very close to Best Gate Thief's final time.
As I also mentioned previously, I do have alternate "Console" setups, which allow me to quickly Warp to Level 6 Checkpoint, save progress to Level 7, and manually reset the console with the reset button. Hereafter, the setup allows the Gate Thieves to "Continue" to Level 7 without the need to return to Level One, such that no further "warps" are required. From the language in the quoted Judge Quote above, it sounds like manual resets may not violate TAS rules after all, but I'll publish both setups anyway, just in case.
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Akuma wrote:
As I mentioned previously, for the Gate Thief sprite, you cannot enter Level One unless you first go to a different level, and do a certain trick (depending on the level). So you can store your progress to Level Two before performing the sprite glitches, and then use the Continue option to enter Level Two, before attempting to enter Level One with "New Game" and perform a Warp glitch.
Combining the Warp Glitch to skip several levels with the Gate Thief to skip gates, it is possible to beat the game in under 20 minutes, and also comply with all TAS rules.
Sounds interesting. Please break the route up to logical steps so they are stupidly obvious and could be checked against the rules even easier.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Please break the route up to logical steps so they are stupidly obvious and could be checked against the rules even easier.
Sure. I made a video to document the necessary usage of the Continue system. Basically, prior to this demonstration, the player would simply beat level one, then exit level two, thus saving progress to level two. After performing the necessary tricks to scramble the sprite, this video picks up with the Continuation to Level Two, where the player performs the special trick necessary to regain access to Level One for warping. At the end of the video, I perform a very basic warp to demonstrate the purpose of returning to level one. Below is the video, followed by a full description of the process.
I also created a supplemental video, below, showing the process as performed by the Normal Prince sprite, so you can see very clearly what's being done. This video actually shows Level One being beaten, and the Progress to Level Two being saved for later access.
Link to video
"Special Start with Guard Sprite."
In order to use the Gate Thief sprite to skip gates and beat the game fast, there is an important setup that must first be demonstrated. The Gate Thief has a weakness: being a variation of the Guard & Skeleton sprite scramble, it has a wide stance when climbing or falling, and has a larger than normal hit box, which can cause problematic collisions with walls, gates, or traps.
The biggest problem is the Entrance to Level One. Under normal circumstances, any variation of the Guard & Skeleton sprite will collide with the gate at the beginning of Level One, and die instantly, instead of freely falling into the level. It can be rather difficult to play the game if you cannot start Level One!
The "Continue" option from Main Menu allows you to save your progress by automatically storing the most recent progress data. Thus, if you are continuing your game, you do not actually have to input anything. You can simply select Continue, and OK.
We can use this convenience to start the Prince on a different level, perform a trick that I demonstrate in this video, and then start a New Game. The tricks shown here will cause the Prince to miss the fatal gate collision, and safely land on the ground at the beginning of the level.
There are three different tricks to create this Special Start. For each level, only one of the tricks works. You can fall and die next to a wall, climb a ledge, or do a running jump. I haven't made a complete list of which trick works where, but you will see an example of each trick in this video. For the jumping trick and the climbing trick, you have to exit on the correct frame. For the climb, you can exit on the middle two frames of the climb, which is when you would normally exit to initiate a warp in certain situations. For the jump, you can exit on either of the two airborne frames before you reach the middle of the jump.
For demonstration purposes, I have enabled Debug Mode to quickly jump to different levels, and show the tricks that work, depending upon where you are. For the Gate Thief speed-runs, I have chosen the Level Two option, because you can quickly beat Level One, save your progress for Level Two, and then return to Level Two later, after you've acquired the Gate Thief Sprite. Then, upon reaching Level One again, you can do a Warp trick to skip several levels.
Because the animation sequence is identical, regardless of sprite or status, I must assume that these tricks cause a sub-pixel position change that allows the Prince to narrowly avoid hitting the gate.
You will notice that each time I successfully return to Level One, I take damage before attempting the next trick. The damage removes the special position status, returning the Prince to the normal status of dying every time he enters Level One. Thus, each subsequent trick shown is necessary to once again return to Level One.
Those with a sharp eye may notice that I did not appear to do another trick prior to my final visit to Level One. This is because the previous step, which was a Single Up #2 reset to Main Menu, fulfilled the requirements of the trick for Level One, which is a level that does the "Climbing" trick, as seen previously on Level Six. On the step before that, I had to go back to Level Seven because the Single Down #2 had resulted in death, which reset the status.
Link to video
"Special Start with Normal Sprite"
This is a supplemental video to show more clearly (by familiarity with the appearance of the Prince with a normal sprite) the tricks required to gain access to Level One with all variations of the Guard & Skeleton sprite, including the Gate Thief sprites.
Once again, I have enabled Debug Mode for demonstration purposes, to quickly show the different tricks from different levels.
So, that's just about everything, as far as introduction of concepts. Next comes the deluge of Gate Thief speed-runs, blasting all previous records to smithereens!
Like I said, I'll start with Best Gate Thief, levels 6 - 20, then circle back, and put all the beginning elements together for the Gate Thief setup and warp. As mentioned previously, I will provide two different setups for the Best Gate Thief. One makes use of the manual reset button for the console, which allows for a fast continuation to level seven; while the other avoids the use of the console reset button, to comply with possible emulator limitations, thereby going for a Level 6 warp.
The 2nd Best Gate Thief, aka The Wobbling Gate Thief, will come afterwards, though I may start sharing some of his levels early, for side-by-side comparison to some of the Best Gate Thief videos.
The 3rd Gate Thief is inferior. His combined speed-runs are about 30 seconds slower, so the level videos aren't as impressive, although there are a few interesting ones that will be shown for comparison. The advantage of the 3rd Gate Thief is that the setup is stupid fast, so the over-all real-world time for start to finish is actually faster than the Wobbling Gate Thief, and only about 10 seconds slower than the Best Gate Thief. (He's also a sub-20!)
Let's get this party started. I'll be rolling out levels 6-20 for Gate Thief #1, with occasional Gate Thief #2 videos for comparison, where #2 is superior, or of particular interest. All Three Gate Thieves will be brought out for levels 13 and 15, though I doubt Gate Thief #3 will make any other appearances for a while, as he is rather boring. He's much more similar to #1, but without the ability to do a Running Jump through gates, so he has to come to a stop at the gate, and then do a Standing Jump through, which kills time.
After I'm done with Levels 6-20 for Gate Thief #1, I'll show the much-anticipated Emulator-Friendly Setup to acquire Gate Thief #1 with Warp to Level 6. (He cannot Warp to levels 7 or 8 without reshuffling his sprite, and losing his gate-skipping abilities.)
After that, I'll show levels 4-15 for Gate Thief #2. I've documented and finalized 16-20 for #2, but haven't recorded videos yet, so that might come next week, or later, depending on how busy I am. Once 4-20 are done, I'll show the Setup for #2. Then the Setup for #3.
After that, I guess I'll knock out 1-5, for a "finish every level" play-through.
OK, many levels tonight, before I go to bed. We'll see how far I get before I'm tired!
Here are levels 6 and 7, for Gate Thief #1.
Each video will start from Training, and a jump to the Level, so that the timer will start at 120 minutes. Therefore, the password at the end of each video will contain the exact time data for that level, much more accurate than the generic clock display on-screen. (You can decode it yourself with a password generator.) I will also provide all relevant info.
To borrow the well known terminology from Super Mario Bros 1, the time units are "Frame Rules", and there are 7.08333 frame rules per second, each one creating a different password.
Gate Thief #1 can go through gates via Standing Jump, Running Jump, starting to run, or by intermittent single frame sword transitions while running or landing. He regains his human form in the middle of his running jump, so a running jump must be initiated fairly closely to a gate.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #1 -- Level 6 -- 0:45"
317 frame rule units = 44.75294 seconds.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #1 -- Level 7 -- 0:50"
356 frame rule units = 50.25882 seconds.
This is Level 8, first by Gate Thief #1, then by Gate Thief #2 for comparison. Gate Thief #2 is superior on this level, as the spacing works better for him after the 2nd guard, and he can go under the last gate without waiting.
Gate Thief #2 can go through gates via Running Jump, or by running from a certain starting distance relative to the gate. For running, spacing is exact to the pixel. He maintains his Sword Form while running and jumping, so time can also be saved by running or jumping underneath a gate that is only slightly open. There are about 3 different distances from a closed gate where a running jump can be initiated, and timing must be perfect, or else the Prince will collide with the gate.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #1 - Level 8 - 1:14"
526 frame rule units = 74.25882 seconds.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #2 - Level 8 - 1:11"
508 frame rule units = 71.71764 seconds.
This is Level 9, first by Gate Thief #1, then by Gate Thief #2 for comparison. This level presented some great difficulties for Gate Thief #2, given the limitations of his gate-skipping abilities. It was a hard-fought battle! So the personal best shown here is quite gratifying, despite being inferior to Gate Thief #1.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #1 - Level 9 - 0:46"
323 frame rule units = 45.60000 seconds.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #2 - Level 9 - 0:47"
335 frame rule units = 47.29411 seconds.
Here is Level 10, by Gate Thief #1. Level 10 doesn't have any gates, so all sprite variations should theoretically be able to get the exact same time. However, no matter how many times I play, I cannot get 581 time units with Gate Thief #1 or #3. I can get 581 consistently with the normal Prince, and with Gate Thief #2. So there may be some slight difference in the Sprite's general behavior that I cannot pinpoint. It might have to do with the starting position, falling towards the first ledge, but I have no way of verifying that.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #1 - Level 10 - 1:22"
582 frame rule units = 82.16470 seconds.
This is Level 11, first by Gate Thief #1, then by Gate Thief #2 for comparison. Again, Gate Thief #2 is able to take a serious advantage here, at several places throughout the level.
The Chomper before the last gate presents an interesting challenge for all of the Gate Thieves on Level 11. You cannot climb down to it, because the wide stance of the Guard Sprite while descending will stick out too far, and the Chomper will cut you down while you're still climbing. So you must turn and fall to face the Chomper. And you cannot do the usual running U-Turn at the top ledge, because the falling grab puts you one pixel closer to the edge of the 2nd ledge. That extra pixel would cause you to land inside the Chomper when you try to fall in front of it.
Gate Thief #2 is able to take an advantage at the Chomper before the last gate. He can save some time by jumping all the way down, and after being stunned, run safely through the Chomper without a hesitation. Because of the Wiggling Motion of the Sword, his hit box avoids the Chomper in this exact instance. Other sprites and Gate Thieves must hesitate, and wait for the next Slice before running through, and that hesitation gives away the time saved by skipping the normal climbing route.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #1 - Level 11 - 0:57"
403 frame rule units = 56.89411 seconds.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #2 - Level 11 - 0:55"
391 frame rule units = 55.20000 seconds.
Level 12 is fun. Get some popcorn! This is Gate Thief #1.
Challenger performs a neat trick on Level 3, on approach to the Exit Door Button. He falls with the loose panel, lands on a ledge two levels down, and takes damage, but does not get stunned because he just slips off the edge to continue falling safely to the bottom.
I have managed to perform that trick on Level 12 by hand, to save 1 time unit. But it is wildly difficult, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to record it on video. I did it with Gate Thief #3, who is very similar to #1, so theoretically, the same trick should be doable with #1 here to save more time.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #1 - Level 12 - 0:30"
212 frame rule units = 29.92941 seconds.
Level 13 will be represented by all 3 of the Gate Thieves. For all 3, I will show the Invincibility Routes.
However, as I want to maintain the consistency of my videos, by starting at Training, and Jumping to the level to start with 120 minutes, it is necessary to play without Invincibility Mode, and simulate it by manually regenerating the health at the moment of death. If you pause on the exact frame that the big spark is covering the Prince's body, you will see that all health bottles are empty, but the Prince is not yet dead. The game checks 1 frame later to see if there is any health left. To survive a fatal fall, you must collide with the wall during the fall, and land next to the wall at the bottom.
Gate Thief #1 can skip the entire Jaffar sequence. Gate Thief #2 and #3 cannot get away fast enough to avoid Jaffar, but they can skip the Mouse to save some time.
Gate Thief #1 and #2 follow the standard Invincibility Route. With the perfect jump at the first guard, you will gain fast acceleration downward when you hit the wall. Anything else will cause a slower fall.
Gate Thief #3 is able to take advantage of a different Invincibility Route, which saves about 3-4 time units (half a second). His hit box is slightly different, so he can more quickly step to the edge after the first guard & chomper. The other Gate Thieves must wait for the next Slice, or they will get cut, even though they are already past it. This hesitation of 4+ time units makes the alternate route unfeasible for Gate Thief #1 and #2.
With the current Emulator-Friendly Setup for Gate Thief #1, the extra time needed to acquire Invincibility Mode pushes you over the 20 minute mark. So, I may eventually add a non-invincibility route for this level. For perspective though, that route is only about 2 seconds slower.
For this version of Level 13, I think Gate Thief #1 was perfectly planned and perfectly executed. I don't think Challenger, or any other TAS Creator can beat it! Also, this was the very last time unit to display 1:39 on-screen. Anything worse will show 1:40.
But for Gate Thief #2, there seems to be some inconsistency with Jaffar's timing, which is quite frustrating. Despite a flawless run here, I was 2 time units slower than my person best record of 805 units.
Gate Thief #3 can only pass through a closed gate with a Standing Jump, or with a quick Stop & Go action at the last possible pixel before colliding with the gate. This latter trick is simulated in Jaffar's cage by stepping up to the gate, and then running away and coming back for perfect spacing. It's extremely rare to come across this perfect spacing by any other means, although you will see a beautiful example on Level 15. Because of these limitations, Gate Thief #3 is quite inferior to the others, and routinely puts up the worst times.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #1 - Level 13 - 1:39"
703 frame rule units = 99.24705 seconds.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #2 - Level 13 - 1:54"
807 frame rule units = 113.92941 seconds.
Personal Best: 805.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #3 - Level 13 - 1:56"
818 frame rule units = 115.48235 seconds.
Personal Best: 817, but needs work.
This is all I can do for today. I'm exhausted! More tomorrow!
I'm back, baby! Ok, here's an easy one.
This is Level 14, by Gate Thief #1. Again, this level will show an Invincibility Route. As before, I will demonstrate the route with a manual simulation of Invincibility Mode, using the Debug Menu. When Invincibility Mode is activated, no special action is required, as the Prince will survive the fatal fall automatically. I will show the relevant Gate Thief Invincibility setups later, along with the setups to acquire the respective Gate Thieves. As I mentioned previously, it is necessary to avoid the Invincibility Mode setup for Gate Thief #1 if you are doing the Emulator-Friendly setup, as Invincibility costs an extra 25 seconds, which would put you over the 20 minute line. So I'll make a non-Invincibility Route for level 14 later. For this case, Invincibility saves about 7 seconds on this level, so it's a pretty impressive shortcut. The one on level 13 looks cools, but only saves a couple of seconds.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #1 - Level 14 - 0:56"
394 frame rule units = 55.62352 seconds.
Level 15 will be represented by all three Gate Thieves.
The main focus of this comparison is to show that, despite their various limitations, every Gate Thief can stay on the main route. The highlight is on Gate Thief #3, who managed to find that illusive perfect spacing for a Stop & Go on the last pixel, by making use of the overhead ledge before the gate to quickly reset his position!
Link to video
"Gate Thief #1 - Level 15 - 0:31"
222 frame rule units = 31.34117 seconds.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #2 - Level 15 - 0:35"
251 frame rule units = 35.43529 seconds.
Link to video
"Gate Thief #3 - Level 15 - 0:38"
271 frame rule units = 38.25882 seconds.
And the video:
Link to video
I hope this gets you excited! Gate Thief Coming Soon!
